Liverpool have set themselves up for a stunning week of Premier League and Champions League football.
The Reds have navigated an extremely difficult run of games with real aplomb ever since October.
But while perusing the Liverpool fixture list, the pair of matches that always stood out was the Anfield double-header against Real Madrid and Manchester City.
Liverpool ticked off the first half of that on Wednesday evening, swatting Real Madrid aside with a 2-0 win.
Arne Slot will not be getting carried away, though, and will immediately be turning his thoughts to how to get the better of City and move 11 points clear of them in the Premier League.
And as the Liverpool head coach ponders how to set his team up, the Real Madrid game once again sent him a reminder of the damage Luis Diaz can do through the middle of the attack.
Liverpool manager Arne Slot celebrates with Liverpool's Luis Diaz during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Phase MD5 match between Liverpo...
Photo by Richard Martin-Roberts – CameraSport via Getty Images
Luis Diaz shines in central role
Diaz was not one of Liverpool’s top performers against Madrid.
In fact, the Colombian was often the man who let the team down in possession. With others playing well around him, Diaz couldn’t seem to get up to the rhythm of the game.
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One thing you can never say about the Colombian is that he’ll go hiding, though.
Even while not playing well Diaz is always an option, running hard and doing whatever he can to gain his edge back.
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That served him well when Slot decided to make a tactical change midway through the second-half.
Despite Lucho’s poor evening, the boss opted to take Darwin Nunez off for Cody Gakpo.
This meant a role through the middle for Diaz, with Gakpo to his left and Mohamed Salah to his right. The Colombia international instantly looked more comfortable and drove Liverpool on for another goal.
Luis Diaz must continue centrally against Man City
This was not the first time Slot had played Diaz centrally. The Dutchman chucked his No.7 through the middle against Bayer Leverkusen last time out in the Champions League.
He was rewarded with a fantastic hat-trick from Diaz.
Shots xG Shot Accuracy Touches In Opposition Box Successful Dribbles
Luis Diaz vs Real Madrid 4 0.54 67% 5 67%
Since then, we had not seen the £50m man redeployed in that position. But given how much better he looked during the final 25 minutes against Madrid, it has to come into Slot’s thinking for City.
Another thing to factor in is that Nunez is still not in the best form. With Diogo Jota missing as well, Diaz is now a viable option.
Gakpo is in goal scoring form too, so it would make a lot of sense to once again try this out and perhaps take Guardiola by surprise.
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